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Tink About It

April 1, 2014 /

Moonchild

 

The moon is a fascinating subject. Magically of course, but also in a scientific way. I like to learn facts about the moon, but I’m also interested in moon lore, moon deities, etc.  I’d like to share some of my thoughts, facts and feelings about the moon.

 

It often surprises me that quite a few witches know lots about the magic moon part, but lack any (f)actual knowledge. There’s so much interesting stuff to explore! The NASA moon website can keep you busy for hours: facts, pictures, projects, special kids programs, etc. Or go to the Wikipedia moon portal and start from there.

Just some teasers, but in fact a miniscule tip of the iceberg:

  • The moon doesn’t affect the tides, it actually causes them. If there were no moon, we would have no tides. The tides arise due to the pull of the moon’s gravity.

  • The distance between the earth and the moon is not a fixed number. The  moon takes an elliptical path around the earth, so the distance varies from 363,104 km (225,622 mi) at perigee (closest) to 405,696 km (252,088 mi) at apogee (farthest). The moon is spiralling away from the earth at an average rate of 3.8 cm (1.5 inch) per year.

  • There is no water on the moon, but it still has ‘seas’. Galileo is responsible for that. He thought the dark, smooth areas were seas, and called them ‘maria’ (Latin for seas; ‘mare’ is the singular). For instance, the first Apollo landing occurred in Mare Tranquilitatis (the Sea of Tranquility). The ‘seas’ look flat from ancient lava flows. Of course we know now they aren’t seas, but the names stayed.

 

The full moon has something special to a lot of people. Some people say they sleep worse, others sleep better. Popular legend has it that the full moon brings out the worst in people: more violence, more suicides, more accidents, etc. The influence of the moon and behaviour has been called “The Lunar Effect” or “The Transylvania Effect.” The belief that the full moon causes mental disorders and strange behaviour was widespread throughout Europe in the middle ages. Even the word ‘lunacy’ meaning ‘insanity’ comes from the Latin word for moon. Well, some of those beliefs are true, some are false. I think it’s fun to explore info about this.

It seems to me a lot of full moon stuff comes from suggestion. I wonder how many people would still sleep poorly ‘because of the full moon’ when they don’t know the current moon phase.  I have kept a moon diary for quite some years. I wrote down the facts (distance to the moon, moon phase, time, etc.) and added how I felt and slept at that moment. I found out I was more influenced by the distance than the phase of the moon. I guess that’s not that difficult to explain. The phase doesn’t say a lot about the moon itself, it’s just the part that’s lit up by the sun. A dark moon may not be visible, but you can still feel the presence, especially when it’s closer than usual. It could be a nice experiment to find out just how much the moon really influences you. Nowadays I use apps on my smartphone to look up the phase and distance, for example Luna Solaria.

 

Some years ago I attended a workshop by Marian Green about moon magic. One of the things we did was looking up the moon phase under which we were born. You can look it up in a moon app like ‘Phases of the Moon’ by Universe Today. At my day of birth the moon was 97% full.  The description of people born on the gibbous to full moon is remarkably recognizable. ?

We also looked into our lunar sign. Someone cast my birth horoscope for me, so I knew my lunar sign is Aries. And again, the description fit me. As there is no day without night, the astrological portrait of a person drawn just by the means of his or her sun sign will be incomplete and partial. Knowing your moon sign can add to the greater picture.

I’ll add the links to find this out for yourself at the end.

 

Another issue about the moon is the gender. Most witches see the moon as feminine, but for example Asatru speaks of the moon as masculine. In languages we see the same: in French ‘la lune’ (f), in German ‘der Mond’ (m). In Hebrew the gender shifted. The older one that shows up in Genesis Yareyach ??? is masculine, the more poetic and later name l’vanah ???? is feminine. In my own language Dutch ‘de maan’ is f(m), so you can use both but feminine is used more often and considered better. I use it both without a real preference.  In a ritual setting with others I use whatever they are using and it’s fine by me. To be honest I don’t really care about the gender…

There are a lot of deities that are associated with the moon. They  can be either male or female, and are usually held to be of the opposite sex of the corresponding solar deity. In moon rituals I sometimes work with a deity, but most of the time I just personify the moon and  talk directly to him or her.

 

What does the moon mean to you? If you have any insights or interesting links: feel free to share!

Moon blessings, Tink

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